Chance meeting at the Albert Hall....
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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.
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In the 1930's, my mother's family were very friendly with a family in Czechoslovakia. After the war, when the Communists took control, the family were forced to flee and ended up in Peru, as one of the few countries for which they could get visas to settle.
Fast forward to 1968, when I as a student in London got tickets for a performance of The Dream of Gerontius at the Albert Hall. I found myself sitting beside a fellow student from the same college who introduced me to a Czech girl she had brought with her. By way of conversation I told her the only Czechs I had known had gone to Peru. She asked me their name and when I told her it was Svojsik she said, "Well, I'm Helena Svojsikova" (daughter of the first cousin of the young men who had escaped to Peru in 1947.) We remain in close touch to this day!
Date submitted:Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:40:12 +0000Coincidence ID:5883
